BIBLE BYTES -- The Bible is the GOAT! Verses and values from the Old and New Testaments!
You don’t come to a point of listening for God while arrogant or proud. Something occurs that shifts from you thinking you don’t need God to seeing yourself as you really are: You aren’t clever about most anything. When you are at that point, you can begin to let God work in you.
Jesus said to follow him if you have to want to live differently. If you are ready to put your priorities aside to learn his, when you are at a place where you can say, “I want to live right. I want a clear conscience,” you are ready to meet Jesus and begin.
Knowledge of God’s Word is a good and necessary start, but to really know God, James says his people have to live out what they learn. A discipline of daily time with God is a strong first step to experiencing the blessings God has for you when you combine action with knowledge.
James 1:22-23 (GNT) 22 Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice. 23 If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are.
6/15/2025
Job’s friends betrayed him as an enemy would, yet even in the worst of it Job never stopped trusting God. To be restored, Job first had to meet with his friends and pray for them. God’s blessings are rooted in mercy and in the faithfulness of those who honor him.
Job 42:7-10 (TLB) 7 After the Lord had finished speaking with Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and with your two friends, for you have not been right in what you have said about me, as my servant Job was. 8 Now take seven young bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves; and my servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf, and won’t destroy you as I should because of your sin, your failure to speak rightly concerning my servant Job.”9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer on their behalf. 10 Then, when Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his wealth and happiness! In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!
6/8/2025
One of the treasures of the Bible is that it reveals human nature. Every child is taught “to do” and “do not.” Eden’s snake zeros in on the word “not,” creating an attractive nuisance. The temptation of the “do not” is a still in effect today, most obviously with children and criminals.
Genesis 3:1-4 (TLB) 1 The serpent was the craftiest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. So the serpent came to the woman. “Really?” he asked. “None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?” 2-3 “Of course we may eat it,” the woman told him. “It’s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not to eat. God says we mustn’t eat it or even touch it, or we will die.” 4 “That’s a lie!” the serpent hissed. “You’ll not die!
5/25/2025
In most religious traditions, if you seem to “act right,” no one knows otherwise. Jesus brings something profound: ALL action comes from earthbound thinking. The enemy attacks you right in the life force within that comes from God, just as he did Adam and Eve.
Mark 7:20-23 (TLB) 20 And then he added, “It is the thought-life that pollutes. 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, 22 wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God.
5/18/2025
Sometimes you don’t know what you need; other times you do. These verses say to ask God without wavering in faith for his answer. If you don’t know specifically what you need, go boldly to God anyway. You’ll never be condescended to. God loves and respects your asking too much.
James 1:5-8 (AMPC) 5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. 7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, 8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].
5/11/2025
Believers, even at their best, can hide sin and become haughty all at the same time. It isn’t easy to keep presenting in one way while sinking lower into sin. God always knows and if you don’t stop, everyone else will too! Let humility and surrender guide you each day.
Luke 12:2-3(MSG) 12 1-3 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.
These verses show what the early churches, and society at large, were dealing with…. the same issues as today! What is true and decent does not include carnality. The early Christians were learning what was light, according to God. Like us, they were already well-versed in the dark.
Romans 13:12-13 (TLB) …... So quit the evil deeds of darkness and put on the armor of right living, as we who live in the daylight should! Be decent and true in everything you do so that all can approve your behavior. Don’t spend your time in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and lust or fighting or jealousy.
4/27/2025
This verse refers to actual statues made of gold or silver and literally worshiped. How primitive and ignorant, right? But if the statue represents making money, sexuality, power, celebrity, or fame in place of having a relationship or guidance from God? Then yes, they are all idols.
Isaiah 46:6 (MSG) 6 “So to whom will you compare me, the Incomparable? Can you picture me without reducing me? People with a lot of money hire craftsmen to make them gods. The artisan delivers the god, and they kneel and worship it! They carry it around in holy parades, then take it home and put it on a shelf. And there it sits, day in and day out,a dependable god, always right where you put it. Say anything you want to it, it never talks back. Of course, it never does anything either!
4/20/2025
Living without the light of God, you are blind to so much. Paul, and other religious leaders, thought the teachings of Jesus were subversive, not holy. But Jesus shined his light, exposed Paul’s sin, and he grew into a full fledged child of the light. You never know who can change, or how.
Ephesians 5:13-14 (TLB) 13 But when you expose them, the light shines in upon their sin and shows it up, and when they see how wrong they really are, some of them may even become children of light! 14 That is why God says in the Scriptures, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise up from the dead; and Christ shall give you light.”
4/13/2025
Your idea of what is thrilling and beautiful about life has a time limit. Human proclivity runs its course in sad and tragic ways. Until you understand these verses, My only hope is in your love and faithfulness, you have yet to know the deepest truths about what is thrilling and beautiful.
Psalms 40:11-12 (TLB) 11 O Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me! My only hope is in your love and faithfulness. 12 Otherwise I perish, for problems far too big for me to solve are piled higher than my head. Meanwhile my sins, too many to count, have all caught up with me, and I am ashamed to look up. My heart quails within me.
6/4/2025
Most know how important these verses are to marriage, but it is important in all aspects of life. It is perfectly normal to get angry but you must face the anger; it may resolve quickly, or over time. Anger must keep dissipating or it will ruin every good thing about you.
There are times when you are confident in God’s love. Then it seems he is nowhere to be found. This isn’t because God leaves you. Day-to-day affairs accumulate and can overwhelm, yes, but nothing can separate you from God’s love, except lies from Eden's snake.
Romans 8:38-39 (TLB) 38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39 or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us.
3/23/2025
When nonbelievers stop chasing the opinions of others, status, fun and thrills, they find they were hoodwinked about what they truly needed. Like a thief, the enemy takes and takes and does not give. Knowing Jesus, his message, and his love, gives life in all its fullness.
John 10:10 (TLB) 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
3/16/2025
Some only get to understand the power of God when their lives are in ruins. When you are at the point to cry out to God, there is some kind of certainty within you that he alone has the power to do the impossible. This is humility and it is the first step to trusting God for all you need.
James 4:10 (NIV) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
3/9/2025
You can skirt by lying. It seems easier to say what will work in the moment. Each time you do, it is a breach of relationship. Lying is feeble because you do it to avoid conflicts that need to be faced. Stand up and face conflicts. Relationships must be based in telling the truth.
Ephesians 4:25 (MSG) 25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
3/2/2025
A believer’s behavior comes from standards in the Bible. If not, something is very wrong. A panoply of sins in Romans 1:28-32 (TLB) and 2 Timothy are very specific, but the theme is consistent throughout the Bible. These behaviors serve no one. Sin is destructive and no one wins.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (TLB) 3 You may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad. 3 They will be hardheaded and never give in to others; they will be constant liars and troublemakers and will think nothing of immorality. They will be rough and cruel, and sneer at those who try to be good. 4 They will betray their friends; they will be hotheaded, puffed up with pride, and prefer good times to worshiping God. 5 They will go to church, yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that.
2/23/2025
This world is full of homeless, addicts, very sad stories, criminals and those who can hide their membership in these groups. They are exiled in plain sight of God. He has been with them all along and will gather each one up when asked. God is all loving-kindness and goodness.
Psalm 107:3-9 (TLB) 3 He brought the exiles back from the farthest corners of the earth. 4 They were wandering homeless in the desert, 5 hungry and thirsty and faint. 6 “Lord, help!” they cried, and he did! 7 He led them straight to safety and a place to live. 8 Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness, and for all of his wonderful deeds! 9 For he satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good.
2/16/2025
Until you cry out to God, you reside in the darkness and shadow of death. You still think your solutions to your dire situation will work. Self-reliance is with God, not without him. He rescues you when asked and gives you what you need to break self-inflicted chains.
Psalm 107:13-14 (TLB) 13 Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them! 14 He led them from the darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains.
2/9/2025
“But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper…” God’s people see things differently than those who do not know him. Men are fallible, God is not. Trusting him for all things can be a struggle, but something worth struggling for.
Psalm 146:3-8 (TLB) 3 Don’t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail; 4 for every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended. 5 But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God— 6 the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise, 7 who gives justice to the poor and oppressed and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners 8 and opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men. 9 He protects the immigrants and cares for the orphans and widows. But he turns topsy-turvy the plans of the wicked.
2/2/2025
